On February 1, 2017 USA Volleyball announced that the USA Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team will play an exhibition series against Canada at the Colorado Crossroads Junior National Qualifier from March 4-6, 2016.
Team USA has medaled in women’s sitting volleyball each of the 4 times it has been offered at the Paralympic Games. That includes winning silver twice (2008 Beijing , 2012 London), bronze once (2004 Athens) and gold once in the Rio Paralympic Games last summer. The American victory last summer ended a dominant Chinese run that had seen then win gold on 3 straight occasions
Team USA also received two gold medals last year from the 2016 World ParaVolley Intercontinental Cup held in China last March and the Dutch ParaVolley Tournament last July.
The U.S. Women’s Sitting Team will play 9th ranked Canada in a 5-match exhibition at Colorado Convention Center and will play at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m on both March 4 and March 5, 2017; and a finishing 9 a.m. match on March 6th.
The Canadian women’s team finished 7th at the 2016 Paralympics, which was the first time either the country’s men’s or women’s team made a Paralympic appearance
The U.S. team was named the “Best Paralympic Team” at the Team USA Awards ceremony on Sept. 28 and finished their 2016 season with a 21-3 overall record. The team has added 3 new players for 2017: Courtney Baker, Melissa Clement, and Whitney Dosty will join 11 of the 12 players from the Rio Games.
Three-time Paralympian Heather Erickson was crowned MVP in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games while 4-time Paralympian Lora Webster was named the Best Blocker. Katie Holloway, Kari Miller, and Nichole Millage are also all 3-time Paralympians that will be returning to the team to play against Canada.
Canadian player Shacarra Orr will be returning to the team this year and was ranked among the top-10 at the Toronto 2015 American Games in Toronto with 28 points. Alongside Orr another teammate returns to roster in 2017, Hedi Peters, who is Canada’s leading scorer and was 8th overall with 30 points at the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games.
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